Malaysia, the Penean have arrested for blocking logging roads. Many people living outside of rainforests went to help protect the Indigenous people’s culture. They understand that Indigenous people have much to teach us about rainforests. Since we (the US and other countries) have been working with the Indigenous People and other rainforest protection agencies, we have learned many things about the forest, including it’s ecology, medicinal plants, food and other products. It has also showed us how crucial it is for the Indigenous people of the rainforest to continue their daily and traditional activities because of their importance in the cycle if the rainforest. It has shown us that they have the right to practice their own lifestyle, and live upon the land where there ancestors have lived before them. (2) One such example of a invasion of the Ingenious people’s privacy is a new so called “emergency” called the Cofan Emergency. This dispute is about an Indigenous tribe called the Cofan. Historically, the Cofan occupied some half a million acres of rainforest along the Aguarico River in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Because their traditional territory has been significantly reduced through invasions by oil companies such as Texaco, the Cofan now live in five small, discontinuous communities. However, they still utilize and protect a region of about 250,000 acres, including two reserves in the Amazon. In addition to displacing the Cofan and other indigenous groups, oil development, which began in this region over thirty years ago, has also caused serious environmental destruction. The deforestation of some two million acres of rainforest and contamination of the regions waterways has resulted in the loss of plant and animal diversity, and drastically affected the social and economic well-being of local Indigenous peoples. This devastation continues. Last year, ten new concessions were licensed ...
